Remote imaging and other sensing devices are used in numerous industrial and medical applications. Many of these applications call for the imaging of areas that can be reached only by way of narrow points of access. An example of such an application is in vivo imaging wherein an imaging device is inserted into a body lumen to image areas within the body.
Several factors have so far limited the extent to which the diameter or other dimensions of an imaging device can be reduced. A first factor is the diameter of the circuitry connected to the imaging sensor portion of the imaging device. This circuitry, generally in the form of an integrated circuit on a chip such as a silicon chip, may processes image signals generated by an imaging sensor. The circuit that processes the signals generated by the imaging sensor is generally referred to as the processing chip although such circuitry and such “processing chip” need not be on or associated with a traditional “chip”. The diameter of the processing chip may be a limitation to possible reductions in the diameter, length or size in general of the imaging device.
A second factor that has limited the reduction in the size of imaging devices is the cumulative widths of the several components of the imaging device that in some configurations are situated on the plane of the imaging device which faces the surface to be imaged. These items have generally included, for example, at least the imaging sensor, which typically sits behind an optical lens, and at least one illumination source for illuminating the surface to be imaged. The placement of both of these components on the same plane has limited the possibility of reducing the diameter of such plane and hence the diameter of the imaging device.
The size of available imaging devices relative to the small openings of many body lumens or relative to body lumens of small diameter, such as in children, may be limiting. A reduced size imaging device may provide greater access to body lumens with narrow or restricted points of access. Furthermore, there may be a need to use space within imaging devices in a more efficient manner. There is a need for an imaging device with a reduced size such that the imaging device can be, for example, inserted or pass through very narrow points of access.